Sita Cornwall estimates the turnkey job for the 240,000t capacity a year facility is worth up to £150m.

The Cornwall Energy Recovery Centre (CERC) is proposed for a site at Rostowrack Farm, near to the village of St Dennis, in the centre of the county.

The combined heat and power  facility, will generate 16.6 megawatts of electricity and divert 90% of the county’s residual waste away from landfill.

The waste processing company is looking for a firm to take on for engineering, procurement and construction of the energy from waste plant which will provide electricity for 21,000 homes in the region.

SITA project director David Buckle is handling the tendering process at the company’s Maidenhead office with the prequalification deadline set for 1 November. Email: [email protected].

French-owned Sita UK was awarded a 30-year, £427 million waste management contract by the county council in 2006.

Sita is currently appealing against a decision by councillors in March 2009 to refuse planning permission and expects a decision shortly.

Local residents have campaigned against the plant raising concerns about flue gas emissions and lorry traffic.

Buckle said: “Although Cornwall is recycling more waste than ever, it is anticipated that there will still be more than 200,000 tonnes of residual household waste, and at least the same tonnage of commercial and industrial waste, to dispose of each year. This is a problem that won’t go away.

“Landfill sites in Cornwall could be full by 2014, which means that within five years the county would have to start exporting waste by lorry to landfill sites in other parts of the country.

“When you add the fact that landfill tax, currently £40 per tonne is increasing by £8 per tonne every year until 2013, it’s clear that Cornwall residents cannot carry the financial burden that this would bring.

“There is an urgent need for this facility to avoid a waste management crisis and to provide a modern waste management solution for the whole county in which we produce energy from non-recycled waste, rather than landfill it.”